Challenge Time
by hell-grrl
Summary: A various group of one shots from the Pepperony 200 and its always been's monthly challenges. :
1. Challenge One

Author: hell_grrl

Disclaimer: As much as I keep saying, "I think I can. I think I can" I can't. Anthony Edward Stark and Virginia "Pepper" Pott's fictional souls belong to Stan Lee. Meh.

Word Count: 628

A/N: Yeah buddy! First fic. Here we go girlies. (And guys.) This was based on its_always_been's seventh challenge, photo number 25. You can find it here: . :)

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><p>James Rhodes took a deep breath.<p>

_Showtime. _

"Ladies and gentlemen," a hush fell over the crowd. He grinned. "Thank you all for attending the annual Stark Industries Charity Gala. I hope you're having an excellent time. Now for what you've all been waiting for. I'd like to call to the stage your gracious host and my personal friend, Tony Stark."

The entire ballroom turned their heads face the side of the stage.

No Tony.

"Tony Stark!" James hissed into the microphone. Still no Tony. James shifted uncomfortably.

_Here we go again._

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><p>"Tony, come on! We passed fashionably late and heading towards totally rude!" Pepper Potts shouted across the Malibu mansion. Screw rude, this was heading towards a complete disaster. The gala had started nearly two hours ago. The party was well underway. Everyone who was invited should have showed up by now. Everyone but them.<p>

The two of them, obviously, had yet to arrive, and as far as Pepper was concerned, that was totally inappropriate. They were practically throwing the goddamn party to begin with.

"Tony!" She called again. No response. Pepper grabbed her coat and stormed down the stairs to the workshop.

She wasn't prepared for what she saw. Tony was sitting on his chair. His fingers twiddled away on some game thing. A cup of coffee sat absently by the TV which was practically blaring. And to top it all off, he was half naked. His pants hung loosely around his hips. His shirt, jacket, and tie were on the back of his chair.

Pepper hadn't decided whether to scream or drool.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pepper had chosen to yell.

"All part of the master plan, Pepper," smiled Tony, not looking up from his game.

Pepper rolled her eyes skeptically. He was such a _dick _sometimes. "Really?" She asked. "And what is this master plan?"

Tony grinned, "Elementary, my dear Potts."

"I never took you as a Sherlock Holmes guy."

"I'm not. The movie's on." Pepper moved over to see the screen. It was.

"Have you ever noticed that the guy who plays Holmes kinda looks like me?" Tony asked as he put the game down.

Pepper studied the screen. He did have an almost eerie resemblance to her boss. Creepy.

Then it hit her. This is a complete waste of time. She clicked the TV and the game thingy off. Game over.

"Pepper! I didn't get to save my game!" Her twenty five year old boss pouted. Pepper shook her head. He completely baffled her sometimes. There were days when he was completely focused and in what she called "leader-mode". Then there were days, like today, when he was like a helpless five year old.

"Let's go."

"Come on, Potts, everyone knows you come in the middle of the party."

She cocked her eyebrow. "Last time I checked the whole point of a party is to get there at the beginning and leave at the end."

Now it was Tony's turn to cock an eyebrow. "Good one, Pep. You may be damn good at schedules, but you suck at working the media."

"Sorry I'm not an irresponsible playboy billionaire." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"I am not irresponsible. Anyway, imagine this, the party's in full swing. Everyone's slightly drunk and they gossip. They're wondering where so and so is. Then you show up, taking all of the attention off the rest of the party. All the paparazzi come and see you. You smile. You woo. You have a nice girl hanging off your arm- that'll be you, Peps. You get everyone talking."

Pepper rolled her eyes. He was such a _dick _sometimes. A loveable dick, but a dick nonetheless.

"What?" He cried. "It works! All publicity is good publicity."

Pepper threw his shirt at him and smiled. "Get dressed."


	2. Challenge Two

Author: hell_grrl

Disclaimer: As much as I keep saying, "I think I can. I think I can" I can't. Anthony Edward Stark and Virginia "Pepper" Pott's fictional souls belong to Stan Lee. Meh.

Word Count: 139

A/N: This comes from _Civil War: Iron Man_. I cried. I will not lie. I did. And yes, this once again came from its_always_been's seventh challenge, photo number 19. Which you can see here: .. I swear this will be the last one. I swear as much as I like numbers 3, 4, 7, 18, 20, and 23. X3 Da dum! :)

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><p>He hated seeing him like this.<p>

Happy was always active, always vibrant. He would have hated sitting there in that goddamn hospital. Being completely helpless. Making Pepper cry. Damn, he would have hated it all.

He hated seeing her like this.

Pepper loved Happy. She really did. That's why she wanted him to do it. That's why she wanted him to commit what would be, at least in his eyes, murder.

_Our Father,_

_Who art in heaven, _

_Hallow be thy name,_

_Thy kingdom come,_

_Thy will be done…_

It was done. It was finally over. Happy was dead.

Jesus, Steve was right. Damn it, he was always right. What gave him the right to be the moral compass? What gave him the right to decide who lived in died?_ What gave him the right to be God?_

Love, maybe?


	3. Drink

Author: hell_grrl

Disclaimer: Me, no owny.

Word Count: 700

A/N: I pumped this one out. It sucks. I leave for camp tomorrow and I wanted to get one done. So enjoy. Don't be too harsh.

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><p><strong>Drink<strong>

Stark Mansion: Malibu, California- 10:42 PM PST

Steve Rodgers and James Rhodes agreed that the military prepared you for most things. They also agreed that it didn't prepare you for Tony Stark. There was nothing on Earth that could ever do that except the man himself.

Pepper Potts, Tony's assistant and the idiot's keeper, had left for Connecticut to visit her parents for her birthday. So Tony had invited the two of them over for a "boy's night in". (Pepper made it very clear that he wasn't allowed to do anything stupid while she was gone.) The two readily agreed. What the hell, they thought. Tony was a fun guy.

Maybe a little too fun.

The three men were down in the workshop with a bottle and a half of vodka. Needless to say they downed it rather quickly. And, well, it went downhill from there. Tony and Rhodey were totally wasted. Steve remained sober because he couldn't physically get drunk. So, as usual, he remained the voice of reason. But Tony had insisted on showing them one of his new projects.

"Uh, is the blue wire supposed to connect to the red port?" Steve asked nervously. One wrong move and they'd all be toast.

Tony waved him off.

"Did you go to MIT?"

"No."

"Are you a former producer of weapons of mass destruction?"

"No."

"Then," Tony hiccupped. "Shut the hell up."

Tony connected the two wires. The result was a rather huge explosion.

_Boom!_

"Get down!"Steve shouted. The soldier immediately dropped to the ground bringing down his two drunken companions with him. Smoke flooded the room. The fire alarms buzzed. The AI had begun spitting out damage reports.

"What-," Steve shouted but was stopped by a rush of coughing. "-The hell was that?"

Tony grinned sheepishly. "Whoops."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Rhodey.

They sat there, under Tony's work desk. And unanimously they all said, "Call Pepper."

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><p><span>Potts' Family Home: New Haven, Connecticut- 1:52 AM EST<span>

"_I like big butts and I cannot lie! I like big butts and I cannot lie!" _Pepper's phone rang.

She shifted on her couch. Damn, Tony. Damn him for the fact that he changed her ringtone. Damn him for calling her at two in the morning when she hadn't a good night sleep in a week.

She flung an arm onto the coffee table. A sharp pain ran up her arm. Those were her keys, not her phone. Round two: this time she nicked her father's ash tray.

"Damn it," she swore as the phone continued to ring. Pepper flipped herself around on the couch and slapped the wall, hitting the light switch. The room illuminated. She snatched her phone off the coffee table and pressed talk.

"Hello, Tony," she mumbled.

"Hi," a violent wave of coughing blasted through phone. "Sorry, hi, Pep."

"What's wrong?" She asked. Her voice was a mix of annoyance from beginning woken up and of fear because coughing like that was never good.

"I-" started Tony.

"He blew up the workshop." A voice cut him off.

"Captain?" Pepper asked.

"Hello, Miss Potts."

Pepper would have liked to head through the phone to strangle that man. He tells her that Tony successfully blew up his own pride and joy, and rather than explain, he just says a polite "Hello, Miss Potts".

"What the hell happened?" She cut right to the chase.

"Um, well, he was drinking…" The Captain started nearly jumped out of the couch.

"He was drinking?" She shouted. There was no response. "You let him _drink_? Jesus Christ! He's been sober for a few months. Didn't you say that your father was an alcoholic? You know what this is like. My God, you better kill him before I do."

"He's a man, Miss Potts. There's-" Steve tried to redeem himself.

"You don't understand!" She shouted. "He's an alcoholic. It's a disease for God's sake! Captian, Captian? Are you listening to me?"

That was answered by the ring of a dropped call.

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><p><span>Stark Mansion: Malibu, California- 11:04 PM PST<span>

"What'd she say?" Rhodey asked, nursing both his and Tony's wounds from the couch.

"I think she was angry." That was all Steve could say.


	4. Spider Sense

Author:hell_grrl

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the comics and a shirt.

Word Count:541

A/N:I haven't posted in forever. *sob**sob* Poor Civil War, why are you so angsty? Poor Happy, why did you die? Anyway, onward to the Siege event because it looks cool. Poor comic store, why are you an hour away?

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><p><strong>Spider Sense<strong>

"Are you guys sure this is a good idea?" Pepper asked as she stood nervously at the edge of Tony's workshop. She fiddled with the first aid kit.

"You worry too much, Pep," Tony smiled. He and Happy sat in a cleared out spot of the workshop. They had both traded in their usual suits for looser athletic clothing. Tony sat, hunched up next to his desk. The Iron Man helmet rested on his knees as he worked on it. Happy was splayed out. Scissors and bandages lay across the ground. His hands were carefully bandaged.

"But," she glanced at the two of them.

"But, nothin'. We'll be fine, Peps. Promise." Happy smiled at his girlfriend. That did little to calm her frayed nerves.

Happy peeled himself off the floor. "Ready, boss?"

Tony pulled himself off the ground. He placed the Iron Man helmet over his head. "Whenever you are."

The two men began to swing at each other. Happy's punches were tight and controlled, the mark of someone who had spent years and years honing their craft. (Pepper would have been lying if she said her chest didn't swell with pride.) Tony's, on the other hand, were wild. His fists flew everywhere. All of his weight was pushed behind each punch, leaving him off balance every time he didn't connect with things.

A little after a minute of fighting, Happy had found his opening. A quick jab to the left would knock Tony down. Pepper winced, waiting for the sound of flesh hitting the metal helmet, but it never came. At the last possible, Tony swung his head over to the right. The fist aimed at him flew past his head.

Tony closed in. He took on last swing. It connected with Happy's nose in a sickening crunch.

"Enough," Pepper screamed. Tony pulled off the helmet. Happy tilted back his head to stop the bleeding.

"Calm down, Peps. S'nothin'. I've been in worse scraps than this before." Happy laughed good-naturedly.

"Are you sure?" Tony looked genuinely concerned. Happy nodded.

"Go upstairs. I'll be up with the first aid kit in awhile." Pepper sent Happy up. Then she turned her attention to the offender.

"What the hell was that?" Her voice was quiet, not angry. Just curious.

"Spider Sense," Tony placed the helmet onto his desk and plopped down in his chair. "Pepper, do you remember Spiderman?"

Pepper nodded. She had heard of him, and he had been over to Tony's numerous times. He always seemed like a nice young man.

"He has this ability. To sense danger when it's near. He calls it his "Spider Sense". Ever since he disarmed himself of the Spider Armor I can't keep a track on him, but I did collect enough biometric data to find out how this thing works. And I built my own."

"Isn't this cheating or something?" Worry carried over Pepper's voice.

Tony swiveled in his chair to face his desk. His gaze rested on the picture of him and the rest of the Avengers. All of them were smiling and happy, friends as well as coworkers, completely unaware that a war was brewing on the horizon. Pepper could almost see the betrayal in Tony's eyes.

"Consider it evening the odds."


End file.
